300 Muscle Men

300 is the type of movie that makes you want to hit the gym harder. All those half naked, buff and bulky Spartans with their six pack abs fighting each other… They even show off a perfect moon lit butt shot, even though the film was shot entirely on a blue screen stage.

Interview: Zack Snyder on 300 Fitness

"That was difficult," said director Zack Snyder. "We had to brighten it a little bit, I gotta admit, when we were in the telecine. They composite it a certain way and then we have it, and then you've got to go, 'Okay, put a little power window on the butt and brighten it.' Debbie, my wife, was in the telecine going, 'you know, it's probably bright enough' or 'No, not bright enough' so I deferred to her a little bit for that. If it was up to me, it'd be super bright. No, just kidding."

As for the bodies in general, that was no special effect. "I had the guys train really hard. They hate me probably. I will be perfectly honest with you. There is a little bit of makeup, airbrushes to help some of the abs, but I've got to say, 99% is just sweat and muscle and caring. Because the actors really, Vince Regan, who plays the Captain, when he came to Montreal, he had no idea that he was going to be basically naked in the movie. I showed some of this footage in England and we were in London and I was talking about the movie, most of the actors in the movie are English. I told them, 'I cast English actors because they're notoriously health conscious people who love fitness over most other pursuits.' And that is totally not true as you know. So they love fish and chips and beer. They don't love turkey breasts and weights. So they really worked hard."

Was it a permanent lifestyle change? "I think the day the film ended, if you were to bring them here today and take their clothes off, you'd be like, 'Who are these guys? Where are the Spartans?' I've seen Gerry recently and I love him more than anything, but for the premiere, I don't think he's going to be taking his shirt off."

300 opens to theatres on March 9th, 2007.

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